The Harder They Fall
by pdljmpr6
Summary: SGA1 is on a previously thought to be uninhabited planet and they’re running short on bullets, options and time. Ronon whump, team fic plus a CMO. R/K after The Lost Tribe.
1. Can Anything Else Go Wrong?

**A/N**: I'm a whumpaholic, what can I say? As always, feedback is appreciated and will probably improve the story dramatically, esp since this is my first crack at whump...

**Disclaimer**: Not mine, not making money from this, in fact, I'm losing money cuz it's late and I'll probably be late to work tomorrow...

**Chapter One – Can Anything Else Go Wrong?**

SGA1 plus one CMO ran full tilt through the dense, muddy forest, all but Dr. Keller firing their weapons into the trees, trying to keep the very pissed-off natives one step behind.

"Rodney I told you that 'ZPM containment device' looked like a shine!"

"Oh sure, blame it all on me," Rodney screamed randomly firing his p90 out in front of and over his head, "how was I supposed to know there was a civilization out there so primitive it would worship the galaxy's greatest power source as a god!"

"The _shrine_ part might have given you a clue!" Sheppard shot back, firing blindly into the forest that flanked them on both sides.

"Move it!" Ronon shouted, a hand on Jennifer's back as he shoved her ahead of him, trying to take their pace from fast, to faster. She did her best to breathe through the pain of over-exertion and couldn't help but wonder with a touch of irony why, in a situation such as this, she seemed to be out of energy-boosting adrenalin. She shifted her heavy pack and focused on stepping in Rodney's footprints the way Ronon had shown her, to avoid any traps that may have been laid. But an arrow landing at her feet caused her to abandon the whole pretense.

Ronon couldn't help a slight sigh of relief when he saw Jennifer picking up the pace some, even if it was caused by a too-close call with a near deadly accurate arrow. He turned to fire into the trees again when three arrows impaled a tree trunk beside him.

Their attackers blended well with the landscape, making their movements nearly impossible to track, and it left them all with no other option but to fire at random into the forest. When he turned to shoot again he felt a stinging sensation like a _garbn bite_ and he immediately reached up to pull a sharp dart from his neck, more annoyed than worried. When he did so, however, a sickly sweet smell invaded his nostrils and it was only because of the arrows whizzing past him and the movemnt in his peripheral vision that he wasn't able to panic.

"We'll never make it to the gate! I am almost out of ammunition." Teyla shouted from her spot at Ronon's six.

Sheppard, already having devised this, was searching the surrounding forested area for a more defensible position where they could wait out the native's fury. His eyes landed on a small cave about fifty meters to their left. He took a half second to wonder if there might be some sort of giant, indestructible, man-eating bear creature living inside, and decided it didn't matter. They were dead either way.

"Break left Rodney!" He shouted, and turned off, taking point and leading the way up the steep hillside littered with rocks and small bushes toward the mouth of the cave.

Jennifer screamed when another arrow whizzed by her ear and ran all the harder, even though her chest was already heaving and her ankle felt like she might have twisted it when she tripped over that badly placed boulder about half a click back.

The climb up the steep hill was anything but easy, covered in spiky bushes which she kept accidentally grabbing onto in an attempt not to fall off, not to mention that they were sitting ducks for the entire, horrible climb. She was grateful that everytime she slipt, Ronon was there, a strong hand hoisting her up the next few inches so she could regain her footing. The sound of his canon firing behind them repeatedly kept her moving, reminding her the danger that had them on the run in the first place was not far behind.

Most of the opening of the cave was blocked by a huge bolder that left only a little bit more than a shoulders-width of room for them to get inside. It was the sort of spot Ronon would have chosen to hide as a runner and he was glad John had picked it, but not overly surprised. Ronon all but pushed Jennifer inside the small opening when they reached the top and, ignoring the heat he could feel on his neck and the pain starting to pound behind his eyes, he paused just outside and layed down cover fire for Teyla as she ran inside.

"Oh, great," Rodney's voice was high and shaky with adrenalin, "there's no back door here, Colonel, how do you expect us to get off this planet?"

John looked back over his shoulder from his spot beside the opening, across from Ronon while they shot down a few overly exuberant natives who came out into the opening of the steep hill and tried to climb up.

"I don't know Rodney," he replied testily, "but we'd been running for a while and I figured this was a better idea than collapsing in another click and being offered up as some sort of burnt offering to the gods of ZPM."

Both he and Ronon kept their weapons at ready while deadly arrows shot from the tree-line below but fell far short of reaching the mouth of their cave.

"What did you you say those markings on the side of the shrine said, Teyla?"

She walked toward him from the back of the cave where she had been confirming there was in fact 'no back door', "I could not decipher all of it, but I believe they held the ZPM in high regard as a powerful diety."

"So it's not likely they're just gonna let this go and let us to walk back to the gate any time soon?"

She shook her head and John sighed. He knew Teyla was almost out of ammo as was he, and with the way Rodney fired his weapon incessantly when panicked, they probably had a good 100 more shots between them. They wouldn't last another fire fight.

He glanced back at his team as he pondered their potential options. Rodney was pacing restlessly, clutching the straps of his backpack, which now held their stolen ZPM, tightly. Jennifer was seated on the ground near the wall at the back of the shallow cave, her shoe and sock off as she gingerly tested out her ankle.

"Everything alright doc?"

After a moment she nodded. "Just some bruising, maybe a slight sprain. I should be fine," she said, putting her sock and shoe back on. She looked up and saw Teyla bleeding from a grazed arrow hit in her arm, "as long as we're here why don't you let me stitch that up?"

Teyla glanced down at her right bicep and raised her eyebrows in surprise, "I was not aware I was injured."

Jennifer smiled as the Athosian came to sit beside her, "adrenalin does that."

Ronon was leaning heavily against the wall across from John, his eyes scanning the surrounding area carefully.

The sun had disappeared abnormally fast and with it the forest outside had grown quiet, almost motionless. The moon had quickly taken the sun's place and lit up their steep mountainside like it was day. The silence made John tense and he glanced repeatedly at the surrounding foliage for any sign of their angry friends.

Ronon shifted as if uncomfortable on his legs, and winced slightly.

John frowned, giving his attention more fully to the Satedan, "Ronon, you alright buddy?" He scanned Ronon's body for any visible injuries, his eyes pausing on a small pinprick's worth of blood on his neck. At his tone, both Teyla and Jennifer looked up.

Ronon didn't answer immediately, instead slid down the wall to a crouching position, his gun trembing slightly as he held it out at his side, pointing out of the cave's opening.

"Don't think so," he shook his head, "got hit."

"Doc-"

"I'm on it."

Jennifer quickly pressed a bandage over Teyla's stitches and hobbled over to Ronon's side, looking worriedly at the wound in his neck.

Jennifer looked up at him briefly and then back, "hit how? With what?"

"A dart," he said quietly.

She nodded, the hole that the weapon had left looked dart-sized, almost like a needle poke. But a small area surrounding the wound was red and almost splotchy in color, as if irritated.

"Just a dart? Nothing special about it?" She fished for more information.

"It had _Neant _on it," he said reluctantly, letting his gun fall to his side, as if exhausted from holding it for so long.

Sheppard could have sworn Teyla's face went completely white and it made his stomach clench.

"What is that?" John asked, Teyla's unconsciously whispered 'oh Ronon' did nothing for his stomach and he repeated urgently, "what is _Neant_?"

"Poison." Teyla answered simply.

Sheppard bit his lip. He looked back at Ronon, he could tell just by the signs of pain and fatigue the Satedan was already showing, which had to be substantial considering he was showing them at all, that this was a poison to be reckoned with.

He took a deep breath, glancing outside, his voice took on a commanding tone.

"Alright people, we need options."

"We could fight our way to the gate." Ronon suggested immediately, tilting his head to give Jennifer's cool fingers better access to his neck. She thanked him silently, and noted with concern that the skin around the small wound was very warm to the touch.

"Impossible," Rodney shot down immediately, "it wasn't working ten minutes ago when all five of us were running full out, no way we'll make it the remaining two miles if you can barely stand."

"Besides I don't advise movement, it would probably just advance the poisens' spread through his blood stream." Jennifer added, glancing briefly at John.

He pursed his lips, nodding, "I agree."

"Let me run ahead to the gate and radio for help, I can run faster alone and it will be easier under the cover of night." Teyla suggested, standing and moving toward her team leader.

John didn't even consider it, "No way Teyla, if anyone was going to make a run for it, I would," he glanced at Ronon, "but we're outnumbered 10 to one by my count-"

"Twelve," Ronon corrected, squinting at the brush outside in an attempt to ignore the Doctor's close proximity. Moonlight showing beads of sweat sprouting on his brow.

"Well there you have it, and like you said Teyla, we're almost out of bullets."

Jennifer noticed the veins surrounding Ronon's dart-wound bulging and the red rash-like area still growing. She bit her lip harder, a thousand poisons and remedies running through her mind. Unfortunately, all she had on her was a basic field kit and some vials she had used to take samples of a flower with supposed regenerative properties.

"Ronon are you in any pain?"

He took a moment to answer, and she wondered if he heard her.

"Some."

"Where?" She asked urgently, wishing not for the first time, that he wasn't a man of so few words.

"My head," he admitted, "hurts some. And my neck burns." He winced when she reached up to probe the irritated skin with her fingers again.

She nodded, believing his reluctant complaints, "Rodney will you bring my pack over here?" she said, then looking at Teyla, "Is it bad? I mean, are we talking? Fever? A paralytic? Or …"

Teyla sighed and spoke up, "I have never known _Neant _not to be fatal."

Everyone in the cave froze at that. John, who'd been leaning against the large boulder and looking outside, whipped his head around and Rodney suddenly stood motionless. Jennifer looked like a deer caught in headlights for half a moment. Then, almost as if someone had flipped a switch, the doctor in her took over. She took in Teyla's words, accepted them, and began running through her options of how to prevent them. Taking her pen-light from the outside pocket of her pack, she twisted it on and brought it up in front of Ronon's face.

Ronon immediately turned away, squeezing his eyes shut. Teyla took a step forward, but didn't say anything.

"Please Ronon, let me check this, then I'll," she reached into her pack again and came up with an instant cold pack, "put this on your neck. I can only keep it on for a while, but it will make it feel better."

Ronon frowned at her and considered this, glancing twice at the small white square in her hand before nodding.

Jennifer gave him a quick smile and checked his pupils as quickly as possibly, noting his barely audible gasp of pain when she did so. He closed his eyes again when she finished and Jen threw a concerned glance at John before squeezing the cold pack and returning her light to her bag. "Okay, Ronon, I want you to lie down."

"I'm good, Doc."

Teyla cut off Jennifer's response, coming to stand on the other side of him.

"Now is no time to be brave Ronon, you know the effects of _Neant _poisoning as well as I do, and you know the pain you are feeling now will only get worse." She spoke with a severity born of sisterly worry that the team did not often hear. But it got through to Ronon and he reluctantly moved away from the wall and lay down.

As promised, Jennifer gently placed the cold pack against Ronon's neck and went to join John and Teyla on the opposite side of the cave, Rodney having taken up John's post at the entrance.

"Okay, I think you should tell us what this stuff is going to do," John spoke quietly, holding his weapon loosely against himself, his brow furrowed in a concerned frown.

Teyla took a deep breath before she began.

"_Neant _acts slightly different in everyone, but the symptoms are usually consistant. First there is pain around the wound and a headache, which rapidly increases in severity."

"He's already got that. His pupils are sluggish, and over reactive to light."

Teyla nodded, "then there is extreme joint pain which is often followed by a burning sensation that is described as 'in the blood'."

Jennifer pursed her lips and nodded, "then what?"

"It is not uncommon for the victim to see and hear things that are not there and sometimes…" she paused, glancing at Ronon nervously.

"What Teyla?" John prompted.

The Athosian turned back, swallowing hard and lowering her voice even more, "sometimes the pain experienced is so severe it causes the person to…take their own life."

John and Jennifer both inhaled deeply, also turning to glance at Ronon, and then looking at each other, neither really wanting to hear the rest, but knowing they had to.

"But, if this can be avoided, there will then be a brief period of respite when the poison seems to have run it's course, the person will act normally and feel much better," she shifted on her feet, still glancing frequently over her shoulder at her friend, "then there is what we call a 'shaking', I believe the word you use, doctor, is," she paused, looking at the ground in thought, "a seizure." When Jennifer tensed again, Teyla knew she'd remembered the correct word, "it is very strong and more often than not, results in death when the heart stops." Teyla grew quiet and John was almost afraid to hope that was all.

Jennifer nodded, her face impassive as she took in everything Teyla had told her, trying to come up with treatments for the symptoms Ronon had yet to experience. At least she knew what to expect this time, too often in this galaxy she found herself blindsided by the intricacies of her various, terrifying, medical emergencies.

A pained grunt brought them all out of their dark silence and they turned back to Ronon, Jennifer and Teyla immediately going to his side.

He was lying flat on the ground, fighting what was becoming an overwhelming urge to wrap himself around his head. He kept his eyes shut tight and his teeth clenched, ignoring their words of comfort.

"Weir will call us when we're overdue," John said, hopefully "That's in four hours. I'll radio for a cloaked jumper and we'll have him back to Atlantis in a matter of minutes."

"Does he have that much time?" Jennifer asked, looking at Teyla as she stripped her coat to put under Ronon's head.

"I do not know. For some, _Neant _is fatal within minutes," She looked down at Ronon and smiled, "But Ronon is strong. It may take days."

Ronon cracked open one eye and started to smile, but clenched his mouth shut to keep from screaming in agony as the invisable walls closing in on his head tightened even more.

"Teyla," Jennifer pressed, anxiously. If she was to go by what Teyla told her, by this stage of the poison's progression, Ronon should have been writhing in pain. She'd always known he was strong, but she was now finding she didn't really know the true extent.

Teyla looked up, her eyes shrouded in sadness. She took a deep breath before answering.

"The longest I have ever seen someone survive was three hours."

_TBC_


	2. Counting the Hours of My Life

**A/N**: I'm planning on this being a really short fic with really long chapters, so probably just one or two more, fyi. I hope you enjoy this, it's probably my fave chap of the three, I tried to remember everything I learned in First Aid, but I'm not a doctor so forgive me for medical mistakes.

**Disclaimer**: I wish they were mine. I really, really do.

**Chapter Two – Counting the Hours of My Life**

_Hour One_

"He's going to fracture his teeth," Rodney commented in a low voice to John. The man glanced back over his shoulder, taking his eyes briefly off the wooded area at the bottom of the steep hillside that rose to their cave.

"Yeah, well, I have a feeling you'd be grinding your teeth too if you had a headache as bad as I think his is," John commented, turning back to the opening of the cave. His muscles were tense with the desire to do something for his friend, but it was dark now, the moon had gone behind a cloud for a moment, and he had no way of knowing how many of their new friends were out there waiting on them.

But they were there, and he didn't need the occasional glint of moonlight off metal-like arrowheads to know it. He could feel their eyes on him and it both frustrated and angered him.

"Oh, I've had my fair share of migraines, I don't fault the guy."

John grunted, "Any of your migraines ever make you bleed from your ears?"

Rodney didn't answer and went back to staring out of the cave with John under the pretense of keeping watch. It wasn't easy to see any member of their team suffer, but it was practically surreal to watch Ronon, easily the biggest and strongest of them all, taken down by a lucky dart.

Jennifer dabbed again at the small drip of crimson blood that dripped down Ronon's neck. At first sight the blood made her fear the worst, despite Teyla's assurance that it was not uncommon and usually accompanied an increase in head pain. She couldn't know for sure yet what had caused it, but so far Ronon was still breathing and somewhat responsive to them, so she filed it under her growing list of 'things to worry about later'.

"Cold pack," Ronon requested, his voice gruff and low to keep from trembling.

Teyla gave him a sympathetic look, but said nothing. She held one of his hands in hers and had laid the other on his forearm, stroking it gently in an attempt to comfort the man. His tan skin was coated in a thin sheen of cold sweat and she could feel his muscles tensing and relaxing in quick sucession as he faught off waves of intense pain that had spread from his head and invaded his entire body.

Jennifer shook her head sadly and dabbed his brow with a clean cloth, putting the bloody one aside, "I'm sorry Ronon, I know it's painful but we can't put the cold pack back on just yet or we'll damage the skin tissue."

She'd told him this several times already and she really couldn't blame him for continuing to ask. The poison had, as she feared, brought a slight fever and the red splotchy rash around his dart wound was even hotter than before. She expected him to growl or curse at her, as he had before when she refused to replace the cold pack as fast as he thought necessary, but he didn't.

"Please," he said, the quiet plea shocking her motionless. She inhaled sharply, biting her lip as she fought to maintain her control.

"I'm sorry, Ronon," she said again, looking away, "I'm sorry."

_Hour Two_

He was on fire. The hot searing pain was everywhere, all around him, inside him. Burning him alive. He screamed.

"Ronon!"

The blood was rushing in his ears and he wasn't sure if the loud banging he heard was his own heartbeat or his troop banging their announcent drums, because his funeral was surely starting soon.

"Ronon listen to me!"

He heard a voice, but couldn't latch onto it long enough to tell who it was. It knew his name though, a woman. Marika? Peran? Were they there to attend his funeral as well? He'd never thought of fire as a good way to die. The only acceptable death was a fighting one, and how could one fight fire? He wasn't sure one could, but he was sure as hell going to try.

"Ronon, please, you are _not _burning."

Whoever the voice was, it was wrong. He could feel the fire, it was hot. So hot. He could feel it under his skin, touching the innermost parts of him and lighting them aflame. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his arms and legs to move him away from it.

He was most certainly on fire, and before long, he would be dead. He was sure.

"Ronon listen to my voice, you are not burning alive. The fire is not real."

It felt real.

"Listen to Teyla, Ronon," there was another voice, another female voice he was sure he should recognize, if he could only get away from the fire long enough to focus, "we're all here, John, Rodney, me. We won't let anything happen to you."

Then why were they letting him burn?

The only relief he felt came from the cool air he kept sucking into his lungs and he found that was the one thing he could focus on. So he did. He focused on the cool, refreshing air and kept taking larger and larger lung-fulls, quicker and quicker until his chest might explode from the effort and still he kept going. Breathing, inhaling, gulping it down. Taking what was rightfully his, even if it was the last thing this fire, this dishonorable death, would allow him.

"He's hyperventilating."

"Ronon!"

He was all but ignoring the voices now. Cool air and fire were all he knew.

"Ronon, this is your Commanding Officer," he paused mid-breath. Kell?

"That's right, now you listen to me. We're all here and we're going to get you out of this but you've got to hang on a little longer," how much longer? "you're not on fire, everything is fine. Slow down your breathing as much as you can, Dr. Keller will take care of the rest," Dr. Keller? "that's an order."

Well, if he was going to die by fire, he would be damned if he would do it disobeying direct orders.

"Yes Ronon, that's much better. Reserve your strength for the trials to come."

Ronon wasn't sure why, but he didn't like the sound of that.

_Hour Three_

"What's he saying?" John asked tensely, being sure to keep his hands up and away from his weapon, "Teyla?"

The Athosian frowned, her stance much the same as his, trying to be as non-threatening as possible.

"It is a dialect from Sateda, I am not very familiar with it."

Their sick friend had suddenly lept from his position lying down a few moments ago when Teyla went to talk to John and Jennifer had turned her back for a moment. Then, before anyone realized what was happening he'd produced a knife from somewhere on his person and had backed himself up toward the wall, muttering to himself in a language none of them recognized.

"Mshi' ktano dagm'ina," Ronon muttered, wincing at undisclosed pain and squinting at the team, a knife in his outstretched hand. Sometimes it would waver slightly, drooping to one side or the other following his eyes as they roamed along the walls inside the cave. But if any of the others moved it was always brought back up toward them.

"He doesn't recognize us?" Rodney asked, anxiously.

"Doesn't look like it," John answered, watching Ronon's stance closely for any opportunity to disarm him.

"I believe he thinks we are wraith," Teyla said after a moment. She listened a little bit more and her eyes widened, "and that we want to put a tracker in him."

"Great, if the restless natives don't kill us, he will." Rodney griped, his nervousness coming out in sarcasm as usual. He felt a little ridiculous with his hands in the air, but didn't want to risk spooking Ronon into hurting himself or any of them. Even in his weakened state, Rodney had a feeling they were no match for him. In fact, probably less so because he wouldn't be holding back.

"Rodney." John hissed in warning. He cut himself off when Ronon suddenly dropped his hand with the knife to his side and doubled over, gripping his head.

"Sang gwran'ko Atlantisin," he whispered, tears in his voice, "morni han jor'niai."

"That is a prayer, I used to recite it as a child," Teyla's face softened with pity, "he is asking the ancestors to help him."

John frowned, "with what?"

"He's in pain." Jennifer surmised, when he backed himself up completely to the wall and slid down, now with both hands gripping his scalp through his dreads, rocking slightly and still muttering.

Jennifer started to step closer, "Ronon?"

"Doc," John warned softly.

Her eyes darted to the ground a few feet from Ronon's hand where he'd dropped his knife and back to his pain stricken face. "He won't hurt me," she said determinedly.

She kept low in a half crouch, approaching slowly.

"Ronon? It's me, Jennifer," she said softly, not wishing to startle him, "we only want to help."

He didn't pause in his rocking and as she got closer she could see the blood dripping slowly from his ears again. Her stomach twisted and she cursed silently for not having all the diagnostic tools at her disposal that she so desperatly needed.

"Ronon, can you hear me?" She tried again, slowly sitting down beside him. He still made no sign that he was aware of her presense so she cautiously strated to reach out to touch his arm.

"Wait," Sheppard's whisper stopped her cold and she held her breath as he stepped closer and swiftly kicked the knife away.

"How many of those things did you say he keeps on him?" She asked quietly, glancing first at the knife now laying against the opposite wall and then at Sheppard.

He shrugged, "one less to worry about."

Jennifer nodded and taking a deep breath, reached out again for him. When her hand landed against his arm, he stiffened. He stopped moving, stopped talking and she stopped breathing. Then he lifted his face from his hands and turned slowly to look at her.

"Ronon? It's me," she said again, hoping this time he would hear her.

Muscle by muscle, moment by moment the tension left his body and his eyes began to clear.

"Doc?" His voice was quiet, exhausted. And it sounded nothing like him, but it made her smile all the same.

"Yes," she nodded, "it's me. Jennifer."

He watched her for several seconds more before nodding, closing his eyes and bending his head until it rested against her shoulder. She was surprised at first by the uncharacteristic display, and then she surprised herself further, and the rest of the team for that matter, by bringing up her arms and wrapping them around him tightly.

She looked to her right, locked eyes with John and nodded. He was back. If even for a little while, he was back.

_Hour Four_

John rubbed his face as he left the depths of the cave and made his way toward the opening where Jennifer stood gaurd with Rodney's p90. After Ronon came around she insisted on taking next watch, since the others had been rotating between themselves while she tended to him.

He smiled at the sound of Ronon and Teyla's soft laughter and Rodney's displeased grunt. He hadn't heard the joke that had been made at the scientist's expense, he was just glad to have a break in the tension after what he was sure had been the longest three hours of his life.

And it wasn't over yet.

"How's it going up here, Doc?" He asked, settling in on the other side of the small opening left by the boulder, "see anything?"

Jennifer just shook her head.

He glanced at her, her form slight and tense in the bright silver light coming from the moon. Rodney's p90 looked awkward and ugly in her hands and he couldn't help but feel some remorse for who this galaxy sometimes forced them to be.

"You alright?" He asked after a moment.

He thought he saw a smile, albeit a bitter one, cross her face before she turned to look at him.

"No, colonel, I'm not _alright_," she whispered harshly, surprising John with the anger in her face and voice, "This planet was supposed to be uninhabited, no danger. But not only is it inhabited, we offended the native people and Ronon is in the final stages of a horrible poison and we've got who knows how long until it _kills _him."

"But he's better-"

"Yes, but how long it will last?" she interrupted, "you heard Teyla, it only goes downhill from here and fast." She shook her head, "I need a real hospital, not some dirt floor in a cave. I need my lab, I need doctors and nurses, I need to be able to take blood samples and run tests. I need to be to monitor his blood flow and brain wave activity-"

She was unraveling, being pulled apart at the seams. John had never seen the doctor this worked up. No matter how gruesome or hopeless the prognosis, Dr. Keller never gave up and she never came undone. And he'd be damned if he let it happen now.

"Well you don't have those things," he interrupted evenly, trying not to sound too much like a drill sergeant, "but you've got me, Teyla, Rodney and all the tools in your field kit." The corner of his mouth turned up in one of his sarcastic smirks, "and no one packs more stuff in their field kit than you doc."

Jennifer shook her head again, not getting the joke, "I don't know if it'll be enough."

John pursed his lips, sobering. He sighed and looked at her, "it's going to have to. We've got at least an hour before Atlantis contacts us, maybe more."

Jennifer started to say something back when Teyla's voice cut between them with a worried cry.

"Doctor!"

Jennifer jumped up, dropping her gun and ran back to meet the others. John glanced once outside and then followed, momentarily leaving the entrance unguarded.

They found Rodney standing and Teyla sitting back slightly from Ronon as his body convulsed violently.

Keller dropped to her knees and quickly turned him over to his side, propping him up using his own arm crossed over to his opposite shoulder, "Teyla give me my jacket over there."

Teyla did and Keller pushed it under Ronon's head to cushion it as it banged against the hardpacked dirt floor.

"Isn't there something else we can do?" John asked, gripping his weapon in an automatic reaction to being nervous. He watched with slightly wide eyes as Ronon's large body, which would usually not dare defy him, spun out of his control.

Rodney answered from beside him, "there's no treatment for seizures. We have to wait it out."

John glanced at him and was somewhat surprised by the calm look on his face. Usually McKay was freaking out at the first hint of something, anything, going wrong. Then he remembered one of the last times they were on earth learning that Jeannie had epilepsy. With this knowledge in mind, John wasn't too surprised when the seizing caused Ronon to vomit, Rodney took up his gun and turned toward the cave opening, mumbling something about 'taking watch'.

Keller looked up suddenly, "Get my kit! The defibrillator is in a black box at the bottom, bring it over here."

"His heart is still beating," Teyla commented as John quickly retrieved the kit.

"Come here, put your hands like this," Jennifer told her, showing Teyla how to position her hands to help keep Ronon's airway open, "it is now, but in a few minutes it might not be."

As if her jinx had come back to haunt her, Ronon stopped moving in that moment. Jennifer dropped the AED and scrambled up beside his head, checking for a pulse.

"His heart's stopped," she said to no one inparticular, "roll him back over and open his shirt."

Teyla did so, trying to simultaneously watch her own hands as well of those of Dr. Keller as she quickly pulled apart the device and got it ready for use. Keller wasted no time in putting the pads in place, one on Ronon's lower chest in front of his heart, the other she pressed on his back between his shoulder blades.

She pulled her hands back and looked at her ECG, "Clear?" She glanced up to see Teyla had also pulled her hands away. The device did a quick check and, realizing the heart was't beating, it administered a shock. Ronon's muscles tightened with the electrical current, but John was somewhat surprised his body didn't lift two or three inches off the ground like he'd always seen in movies.

It shocked him twice more in the ten minutes that followed, with Keller and Teyla alternating in doing CPR in between.

Jen wiped her brow and looked up at John, whose face looked as worried and tense as she felt.

"I need that Jumper, John."

He nodded, pursing his lips as he turned to join Rodney at the cave opening, "Just a little while longer."

Jennifer moved to switch places with Teyla. She hoped a 'little while' didn't turn out to be too long.

_TBC_


	3. Deep Sleep is Better Than Deep Six

**A/N**: This is it, thanks for everyone who read and enjoyed this.

**Disclaimer**: Ha. Don't make me laugh. Or cry. As the case may be.

**Chapter Three – Deep Sleep is Better than Deep Six**

Jennifer detached the AED and told Teyla and Rodney, who had joined in the CPR effort after they'd crossed fifteen minutes, to continue rescue breathing only. His heart had started beating on it's own again, a miracle she wasn't quite ready to acknowledge lest she jinx that too, but it was still very weak. What was more, so far he'd been completely unresponsive to any of their efforts to wake him.

"Doc?" John said quietly, "how we doing?"

Jennifer sighed, setting back on her haunches, her eyes still locked on Ronon's unmoving face.

"Whatever this poison is, it's doing a damn good job," she looked over at John, "at this point, we'll be lucky if he isn't severely brain damaged and I have absolutely no idea the effects this poison has wreaked on his inner organs…" she shook her head, "I just don't know, Colonel."

She moved to take Teyla's place at Ronon's head and she sat back beside Rodney.

"From now on I'm making squeeze bag resuscitator's mandatory in all field kits."

Teyla smiled at her tiredly, "Along with the 'analyzing alien substances on the go' kit you'll be assembling when we get back?" She asked teasingly. Jennifer was about to respond when the sound of static on all their radios made them stop short.

"Atlantis to any member of SGA1, come in."

John's hand was on his com before Weir was finished speaking.

"Elizabeth, boy am I glad to hear from you."

"John? What's going on? You're over an hour overdue."

"No time really to explain now, I need you to get Lorne and a medical team assembled, in a jumper and at our position five minutes ago." There was a slight pause that seemed to take an eternity to the four people listening while she relayed his orders and then she was back.

"Done. Is someone hurt?"

John bit his lip and looked back at his team, all gathered around their fallen comrade.

"Yeah, it's Ronon," he looked away again, "and it's bad."

"Understood. Is there anything else?"

John shook his head, although Weir couldn't see it over the radio, "Just get us that Jumper."

SGASGASGASGA

Jennifer walked out of the back section of the infirmary, pulling off latex gloves and rubbing her eyes. The rest of the team was propping up the wall in the small empty area outside the main ward which had been affectionately dubbed 'Medical Limbo'.

"Hey guys," she said quietly, stepping up and not really noticing when they all came to form a circle with her, "we've finished our tests. As you know, I had him put on hemodialysis as soon as we got back to try and flush any of the remaining poison from his system. I also made a quick search through the ancient database with the blood samples we took from him and we actually got a match."

Her lack of elation at that last point made Rodney groan, "don't tell me."

"Yup," she continued, her exhaustion barely tempering her frustration, "the ancients developed this poison as some form of weapon against the wraith. Unfortunately it proved to be more deadly to humans than to the wraith and was decommissioned. But not before some of it leaked out onto the planets they'd populated and-"

"And here we are." John finished, shaking his head. He knew he'd had some royal screw-ups since coming to this galaxy, but he had to admit, the Ancients had had some pretty big ones themselves in their day.

"Yeah," Keller nodded, "thankfully, they also managed to develop a treatment which I was able to recreate pretty quickly. We're administering it now. He's still unresponsive but…we're hopeful." She finished her sentence with a yawn and then smiled, "sorry."

"You should go get some sleep, Doc." John said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I could say the same to any one of you," she said with a tired, smile, "but I'm not going to. I have a feeling none of us would listen."

She turned slightly back toward the infirmary, "would you guys like to see him?"

SGASGASGASGA

Keller had never really understood the practice so many of the teams had to stand vigil while one of their members was laid up, injured. It was a given, of course, and she and her staff had learned to work around the minor inconvenience a few extra bodies in the room caused, but she'd never really understood why.

Until now.

After spending close to four and a half hours in that cave and watching Ronon go from perfectly healthy to medically dead in a time span far quicker than she ever would have liked to experience, she found it practically impossible to tear herself from his side. John had planted himself in a chair beside the bed, Rodney was in the chair beside that and Teyla was sitting motionless at the foot of the bed beside Ronon's feet.

Few words were exchanged, they mostly just pretended to doze or stared blankly off into space, but were constantly taking note of the monitors attached to Ronon's chest and the oxygen cannula that was allowing him to breathe. Each one was trying to read the indecipherable medical jargon for any clue as to their friend's condition.

And, although she'd done all she could, she kept finding herself back in his room looking at his chart and checking his vitals. She'd done so half a dozen times before she realized it, afraid to admit she was doing it merely to prove to herself that he was, indeed, alive.

"Take a load off, Doc," John said, when she reached out to take Ronon's pulse again for the second time in as many minutes, "he's not going anywhere, you don't have to either."

Jennifer looked at him, his elbows propped against his knees. Rodney and Teyla nodded, echoing his sentiment and she smiled briefly. It was her infirmary, ultimately it was her decision whether or not to go or stay, so why did it feel so good, so appropriate, to have received an invitation?

She pulled up a chair and sat down. John leaned back and crossed his feet at the ankles and Teyla let one hand fall lightly to Ronon's leg, as if to assure herself that he was there.

"I've been thinking about those people on the planet. I kind of feel bad about stealing their 'god'." John commented.

Teyla nodded feeling similarly and then brightened. Looking at Rodney she asked, "they were not using the ZPM, correct?"

"No, it was just sitting there, why?"

"Well, could we not give them a different ZPM? Perhaps one we are no longer using?"

Rodney paused in tapping his fingers on his legs to consider this, "I guess I don't see why not. One ZPM pretty much looks like another."

John nodded his approval, "We get a new ZPM to run the city, the natives of MG5-H66 get to keep their god," he looked at Ronon, "what do you think, Big Guy, you approve?"

Ronon, of course, didn't respond. And it occurred to John that that probably would have been his response whether he were unconscious or not.

"So, that's a 'yes' then?" Rodney said, echoing his thoughts. John rolled his eyes and Teyla reached out to smack him lightly on the head, trying to look disapproving but failing.

Jennifer smiled and, suddenly, she understood.

It may have been her infirmary, but this was _their_ team.

SGASGASGASGA

Jennifer was expecting him to be awake soon, and had settled herself on one of her stools with the caster wheels at the foot of the bed, turning back and forth in a slightly juvenile fashion as she watched him sleep. It had been almost three days and he'd only woken once and he'd been in so much pain at the time they'd been forced to put him back under.

That had been two days ago.

They had no idea the amount of time it would take to flush the nasty poison completely from his system, so they were taking it slow. Jennifer ordered his sedatives be reduced late last night and now she was here. Waiting.

She stopped moving when Ronon shifted minutely on the bed, turning his head slightly to one side and frowning. A few moments later his breathing evened out and his face relaxed. He was awake, she knew, she'd witnessed this little possum act more than a few times in the past couple years. She could only assume it was a practice he'd picked up after spending so much time on wraith ships and on potentially hostile planets. Trying to become aware of his surroundings before anyone realized he was even awake.

When he opened his eyes they focused immediately on her, as if he'd known she was there.

She smiled, "hey, sleeping beauty," she got up and walked slowly around to stand next to his head, "how do you feel?"

He took a deep breath and glanced around the room and then looked back at her, "heavy."

She nodded, the comment almost sounded funny. Almost, "do you remember what happened?"

"_Neant_."

"Yeah. One of the effects apparently is muscle fatigue," she shook her head, "it attacked nearly every major organ in your body including your muscle tissue and managed to do some pretty serious damage," she down and then back up again to find he was watching her carefully, waiting for her to finish, "you're going to need to take it easy for a while, and I've scheduled you for some PT when you're ready."

Ronon frowned.

She smiled teasingly, "I don't want to hear it, it's non-negotiable. You have had what we call a 'near death experience', and you're following Doctor's orders whether you llike it or not."

She returned to her stool at the foot of the bed after taking a few quick readings off the machines.

"Where are the others?" Ronon said after a few minutes, readjusting himself on the bed, wincing as he did so.

"They had to return to duty a couple days ago, nothing too interesting," she added, seeing his look of curiosity, "but they stop by everyday after their shifts end." She glanced at her watch, "in fact, they should be here soon."

He nodded, closing his eyes briefly, "the ZPM?"

"What about it?"

"Does it work? 'Cause I'll shoot McKay if this was all for nothing."

Jennifer rolled her eyes, "I assure you that won't be necessary, we now have exactly two working, fully powered, ZPMs."

Ronon nodded, "good. Sheppard doesn't like when I shoot people."

"No, he doesn't." Jennifer said with a smile. She started to leave and then turned back, remembering why she'd been sitting and waiting for him to wake in the first place.

"Um," she paused and Ronon pried his eyes open again after they started to drift shut. He noted the way she was fiddling nervously with the fabric of her lab coat and forced himself to pay closer attention, "I know you're tired so I'll make this quick."

She bit her lip briefly and took a deep breath, looking as if she was steeling herself for whatever was about to come. She took a step closer and looked him in the eye.

"I told you before that I was interested in someone else," she swallowed when she saw him stiffen but told herself she couldn't stop there, "I didn't lie to you," she said quickly. She was somewhat relived when that seemed to abate some of the tension from his body, "I just made a mistake."

Ronon frowned slightly and tried to make himself sit up straighter in the bed.

"Mistake?"

Jennifer nodded and, as if the composure and strength had suddenly been drained out of her, she dropped down into the chair beside the bed, throwing her hands in the air.

"I _was _interested in someone else, at the time. I was. I mean he was great. Sweet, kind, thoughtful…and then he turned out to be this total jerk. I mean I can't believe I misread him so badly. I always knew I wasn't exactly a people person but…I got him completely, totally, _absolutely_ wrong,"sShe shook her head, staring off into space, her face a picture of bewilderment.

Ronon's expression darkened, "did Rodney do something to you?"

"Rodney? What has Rodney got to do with anything?" She looked at Ronon and, finding no answers in his expression, she just shook her head and smiled ruefully, "but no. Nothing a night with the girls and some mint chocolate chip ice-cream can't cure," she took a deep breath and stood, dropping her hands into the deep pockets of her lab coat. She shrugged, "Anyway, I just…wanted to tell you. I'm not sure why I just…did."

She picked up her clipboard off Rodney's chair and turned to leave, but Ronon's voice stopped her.

"So, you're not interested in someone else?"

Jennifer turned around and smiled, "No. I'm not."

Ronon's childish grin was immediate. "Then…you wanna go get something to eat?"

She laughed and then, "I'd like that." She smiled once more and left Ronon's room just as Sheppard and the others entered.

"Well big guy, we're glad to have you back with us," Sheppard said after they'd been talking for several minutes, updating him on anything (interesting) that he'd missed over the past few days.

"I am glad to see you are feeling better Ronon," Teyla stepped forward, took hold of his muscular shoulders and bent down to touch her forehead to his. "Now, I must go tend to Torren," she said when she pulled back, "I shall see you all tomorrow."

Sheppard and Rodney agreed and then the scientist stood, following her lead.

"Yeah, I should probably get back," he stuck his left hand in his pocket and jerked his right thumb toward the exit, "we're still going over some rather interesting findings in Janus' lab so…"

"See you tomorrow Rodney," Sheppard said, saving the scientist from having to finish his excuse.

"Ah, yes. Okay then." Rodney left the small room and then after a few seconds poked his head back in, "and it's um…good to see you doing well, Ronon." And he was gone again.

Sheppard chuckled softly and tipped back in his chair, turning his attention back to the Satedan.

"You look like you could use some rest," he commented after a moment, taking in the way Ronon kept fighting to raise his eyelids after letting them droop for a few seconds.

"I feel like I've been sleeping for days."

"You almost died, buddy. Get used to it." Sheppard smiled and reached out to pat the man's arm sympathetically, "and the fact that you and the Doc are…you know. Well, that's gotta help."

Ronon looked at him sharply and John smirked, shrugging nonchalantly and moving to stand. "Don't look so surprised Ronon. You don't get to be a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force without learning how to read people. Especially those on your team."

"You're so full of crap." Ronon grunted, throwing a paper napkin left over from the dinner they'd brought him at the back of the Colonel's head as he went to the door.

John ducked, "by the way, congratulations."

"We're not getting married, Sheppard," Ronon called, knowing that if Jennifer heard, she'd blush deeply.

"Not yet anyway." He heard the man call back and he smiled.

That flyboy and his crazy ideas were gonna get him killed one day. But that day was not today.

He sat back in his bed and finally let his heavy eyelids shut, the promise of 'Keller' filled dreams on the other side of conciousness.

_TBC_


	4. The End

**A/N**: My bad everybody! I was so excited about posting the last chap that I forgot the most important word! The end! I thought about continuing for one more chapter, for continuity's sake, but there was just nothing left to say. Sorry for the confusion and without further adeiu...

_END_


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